(AFP) – Former special counsel Jack Smith defended his criminal prosecution of Donald Trump before Congress Tuesday, decrying what he said were unprecedented attacks on the rule of law in Trump’s second term. Smith was forced to halt two federal investigations he was conducting concerning Trump after the Republican was re-elected to serve a second term as president in November 2024. One involved attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost, and the other concerned the retention of classified documents after Trump left the White House in 2021.
Addressing the Republican-dominated Senate Judiciary Committee, Smith defended decisions he made as special counsel for the Department of Justice, including the bringing of charges against Trump. “I made those decisions without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,” he said. “Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation,” he added.
He made similar remarks during a closed-door hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in December 2025, and during a public hearing before the same committee in January. “As I appear before you today, it is my belief that the rule of law faces challenges unlike any we have experienced in our lifetime,” Smith said. He denounced “the vilification of the agents, prosecutors, and staff” who worked for him on the investigations since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
“I myself have been threatened with jail by the president of the United States,” Smith said. Nevertheless, “I remain confident that the rule of law will endure because so many continue to uphold it faithfully each day throughout our legal system,” the former prosecutor said. Trump and his Republican allies see Smith as the embodiment of the “weaponization” of the justice system during Democratic President Joe Biden’s four years in office.
© 2024 AFP
